Bonnie Watson Coleman: “I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, before I close, I want to spend a few minutes on another important topic as well.…”

“I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, before I close, I want to spend a few minutes on another important topic as well. Today, President Obama nominated Chief Justice Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy that has been left on the Supreme Court by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Judge Garland has more Federal judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in history. His work on the D.C. circuit court, an appointment to which he was confirmed with strong bipartisan support, has earned praise from Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. He is qualified. He is competent. He is not the ultraliberal that many of my conservative colleagues feared. {time} 1500 Yet, following up on his promise that the Senate would consider absolutely no one that President Obama put forward, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said today: ``It is a president's constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice, and it is the Senate's constitutional right to act as a check on a president and withhold its consent.'' I beg to differ. I think it is the President's constitutional responsibility, not just a prerogative, to fill the bench of the Supreme Court. Withholding consent, something that is typically done when a candidate is underqualified or inappropriate, is far different than just ignoring the process altogether. This is a political decision made about the only body that shouldn't be exposed to such things. It goes beyond just a filibuster or commentary from a few outliers.…”